Prepare By

Dr Abul Hasnat M Solaiman

Associate Professor

Dept of Horticulture

Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka

LOW COST, HIGH IMPACT SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE QUALITY AND SHELF-

LIFE OF IN LOCAL MARKETS

Dr Abul Hasnat M Solaiman

• Green beans, also known as French beans, string beans, or snap beans, are the unripe fruit and protective pods of various cultivars of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).

• Immature pods of the runner bean (Phaseoluscoccineus), yard long bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis), and hyancinth bean (Lablab purpureus), are also used as snap beans.

• They are distinguished from the many differing varieties of beans in that green beans are harvested and consumed with their enclosing pods, typically before the seeds inside have fully matured.

• This practice is analogous to the harvesting of unripened pea pods as snow peas or sugar snap peas.

BARI Jharsheem -1

BARI Jharsheem-2

Sylhet local-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Snap beans are high in protein and soluble fiber

and low in calories.

The quality of snap beans is dependent on the

maturity status of the pods at harvest and the

method of post-harvest handling.

Good quality snap bean pods are fleshy, young,

tender, snap easily and are free from physical

injury and caused by insects and diseases

snap bean pods are highly perishable because of

their high moisture content and delicate nature.

If not harvested at the right stage of maturity and

handled properly throughout the market distribution

chain from harvest to retail the produce suffers

losses

quantity and quality,

resulting in a reduction of income involved in

production and subsequent post-harvest handling.

Improper handling also shortens the market or shelf

life of snap beans which limits sales volume and

returns to retailers.

Post-harvest begins where production ends, that is at harvest.

Good practice in harvesting and in post-harvest handling is essential in maintaining quality (fresh appearance, flavor and nutritional value), extending shelf life and in assuring the safety of snap beans for the benefit of consumers.

Post-harvest losses in snap beans occur due to several factors, namely harvesting at immature or over-mature stages, mechanical damage, moisture loss, and decay.

Efforts must, therefore, be made to prevent or minimize these losses across the snap bean supply chain, so that producers, marketers and consumers alike can benefit.

Under the FAO Technical Cooperation Project -TCP/RAS/3502, titled, Reductionof Post-harvest Losses in Horticultural Chains in SAARC Countries,technical improvements (Table 1) were piloted in Sri Lanka with stakeholdersin traditional snap bean supply chains.Qualitative and quantitative losses and shelf-life were assessed.

Operation

Traditional practice

Improvedpractice

Harvesting Harvesting at mixed stages of

maturity

Harvesting at the

correct stage of

maturity

Packaging Mesh/plastic sack, 50 kg

capacity

Packaging in plastic

crates, 15 kg

capacity

Labor involved:

Permanent,

daily labor

Contract

labor with

verbal

agreemen

t

Daily

labour

Child labour

at daily

basis

For cultivation

(ploughing),

weeding,

irrigating,

pesticide

spraying and

harvesting of

crops/producti

on

Dr Abul Hasnat M Solaiman

Losses in snap beans at the wholesale level were mainly due

to weight loss and transport/packaging-related damage while

at the retail level, losses incurred during display were due to

moisture (weight) loss and quality deterioration, i.e.

damaged and decaying beans which were unmarketable and

considered as a post-harvest loss.

At the wholesale market, weight loss and mechanical damage

resulting from traditional practice were 3.9% and 14.1%

respectively, resulting in a total loss of 18 %. With improved

harvesting and bulk packaging practices, weight loss and

quality deterioration were 2.9 % and 4.4 % respectively,

accounting for a total loss of 7.3 %. The improved practices,

therefore resulted in a 59 % reduction in post-harvest loss.

Parameter

Supply chain level

Handling practice

Traditional Improved

Total loss (%) Wholesaler 11.00 4.5

Retailer 41.00 13.8

System loss (%) Farm to retail 52.0 18.3

At the retail level, weight loss and loss due to quality

deterioration were 11.7% and 14% respectively, accounting for a

total loss of 25.7%. With improved handling practice a total loss of

20.6% was incurred: due to 7.3% weight loss and 13.3 % loss due

to quality deterioration. Overall, a 20 % reduction in post-harvest

loss was achieved in retail with the improved practice. For the entire post-harvest handling system (farm to retail), system

loss was markedly reduced from 43.7% to 27.9% as a result of

improvements introduced.

Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be

stored or displayed for sale without becoming unfit for

use or consumption.

Pods handled using improved practice had a lower

weight loss (7.3 %) due to moisture loss than those

handled using traditional practice (11.7%).

However, the total quantity of marketable pods were

almost the same for both handling practices.

In effect, retailers can expect to gain better returns

from using the improved practice for handling snap

beans due to higher marketable weight.

Use of good practice in harvesting and

subsequent handling of snap beans from

harvest to retail is critical in minimizing the

risk of contamination by pathogenic

microorganisms that may originate from the

vegetable itself as well as from workers who

come in contact with the produce.

Cost and returns analysis was used to determine

the profitability of adopting improvements in the

traditional snap bean supply chain.

Expected cost and returns were calculated for

the three supply chain levels,

i.e. farmer, wholesaler and retailer, based on the

assumption of marketing 100 kg of snap beans

and using post-harvest loss data and other

relevant information gathered by the project. A

summary of the results is presented in the tables

below.

Item

Farmer

Traditional

(Plastic sack)

Improved

(Plastic crate)

Gross returns, Rs 2,225.00 2,875.00

Total cost*, Rs 50.00 6.40

Total Gross income, Rs 2,175.00 2,858.00

Gross income/kg, Rs 21.75 28.58

Item

Wholesaler

Traditional

(Plastic

sack)

Improved

(Plastic

crate)

Gross returns, Rs 2,225.00 2,865.00

Total cost, Rs 2,250.00 2,506.00

Total net income, Rs -25.00 358.60

Net income/kg, Rs -0.25 3.58

Item

Retailer

Traditional

(Plastic sack)

Improved

(Plastic crate)

Gross returns, Rs 3,160.00 5,772.00

Total cost, Rs 2500.00 3,540.00

Total net income, Rs 360.00 1232.00

Net income/kg, Rs 6.60 22.32

3A

3B

3C

Does not include production cost

For further information, please contact:

Rosa.Rolle@fao.org

Forms of post-harvest losses in snap beans: loss of green color (a) and browning anddesiccation (b) due to moisture loss, mechanical damage due to poor packaging/transport(c), and disease infection of damaged portion (d).

Farming Field

in Manikgonj

Permanent labor- 2, salary-

10.5 to 12.5000BDTk per month

according to skillness (Local

labor)

Waged labor- 5 person for

daily routine work-

ploughing, weeding,

spraying and harvesting etc

(360 Tk daily 8 hrs)Wire house at

Gabtoli (DAM

Building leased)

Online Order initiator- 1

person

(For B2B + B2C)- Sal:

25000BDTK

Logistics (Transport) 1

person- Sal: 20000tk

Washing, grading,

packaging, processing-

2 labours- 10000tk

each/monthDrivers for delivery van-

collecting and delivering

crops from farm and to

customer and market- 6

drivers, salary: 7-9000tk/month

Cleaner- 1 person

(cleaning the processing

zone, crop residues etc.

salary: 6500tk/month

Purchase man- 2

persons (Collecting

crops from contracted

farmers). sala: 12000tk

B2B (Hospitals,

restaurants, Chain

shops, super markets,

retail shop

B2C (Directly to

customers home-free

delivery options)

Delivered to

customers or

Market

EXPORT

MARKET

Dr Abul Hasnat M Solaiman

www.directfreshbd.com

Corporate agriculture supply chain

At the farm level, the farmer benefits from higher gross income, by

replacing traditional plastic sacks as field containers for harvested

snap beans.

With the use of plastic crates as field containers, reduced physical

damage to the beans results in increased volumes of good quality

being sold to the collector.

Alternatively, the farmer can further increase his gross income if

the good quality produce is marketed directly to the wholesaler as

the savings on losses in quantity and quality during transport from

the collection area to the wholesale market would accrue to him.

In the case of the wholesaler and the retailer, the use of plastic

crates as packaging and transport containers gave higher positive

income than the traditional plastic sack.

This is due to the substantial reduction in unmarketable bean

pods caused by mechanical damage during transport to the

wholesale market as well as quality deterioration and moisture

(weight) loss during retail display.

For further information, please contact: